Millions of dollars is being spent fencing off open sections of Melbourne's railways where people are regularly taking their own lives.

Suicide by train has become so common Metro plans to build a dedicated train wash, called a ''biopit'', to clean train exteriors after a person is hit. The bio-pit will cost an estimated $5.4 million to build.

Metro says a person is struck by a train more than once a week on average in Melbourne. Photo: John Woudstra

The secret plan to construct a specialised pit is revealed in confidential documents leaked to Fairfax Media. It will be built as part of a huge new train depot in Pakenham East, expected to open in 2019.

Rail operator Metro says a person is struck by a train more than once a week on average in Melbourne. Most are killed, some survive with terrible injuries.

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''Tragically, each year about 40 trespassers are fatally struck on our network and there are a further 20 who sustain serious injuries,'' Metro spokeswoman Leah Waymark said. ''This impacts many people, including our drivers and staff and their families.''

Last year there were 36 suicides by train and 10 attempts in which a person was hit but not killed. Numbers were similar in 2012. There have been 16 suicides so far this year and two attempted suicides.

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Metro records where each fatality occurs. It found that between November, 2009, and December, 2011, 34 per cent of rail suicides in Melbourne occurred within one kilometre of a mental health unit.

The Victorian Coroners Court has published findings this year on recent rail fatalities. In one case a 33-year-old man awaiting admission to a psychiatric ward walked out of hospital to a nearby unfenced section of track.

In another, a woman, 20, who had been restrained due to suicidal ideation, fled while hospital staff temporarily left her alone and unrestrained and leapt in front of a train from a nearby station platform. A third stepped in front of a train at a pedestrian level crossing.

The coroner ruled in all three cases that the train driver was powerless to prevent the collision.

Up to 20 kilometres of fencing is going up at known suicide ''hot spots'' around Melbourne as part of a $3.9 million program funded by the Commonwealth.

Pat McGorry, professor of youth mental health at Orygen, said the organisation experienced first-hand the tragic mix of mental health facilities and nearby railway lines. Several patients at Orygen's Parkville facility died this way before the unit was moved.

He said fencing had been proven to be an effective measure in the prevention of suicide.

''It took them years to put up the barriers on the West Gate Bridge and that has been a really good thing, that has reduced suicides. People say they will just go somewhere else, well they don't actually,'' Professor McGorry said.

For help or information call Suicide Helpline Victoria on 1300 651 251 or Lifeline on 131 114, or visit beyondblue.org.au